Monday, September 1, 2008

Good-bye New Life Link

I just received an email from Ismaelite, one of the nannies, and I immediately called Miltha for confirmation. It's finally happened. New Life Link has moved out of Foyer d'Espoir.This transition has been in the works for years, for at least as long as I've been involved with HFC. But since everything in Haiti advances on Haiti-time, it kept being postponed and the plans kept changing.Originally, the nursery was going to be moved to Dr Bernard's house, but most of the nannies cannot commute that far, so instead, Dr Bernard bought a house in Carrefour. The move was scheduled for the end of this summer, but I never dreamed that it would actually happen on schedule.On a light note, let's imagine the moving process for a moment. How exactly do you transport 60 infants, toddlers, and preschoolers along with their nannies, their cribs, their tables, their chairs, their plates and spoons, their pots and pans, their laundry bins and bath basins? I'm pretty sure I never saw moving trucks in Haiti. I wish I'd been there to see the utter chaos.On a sad note, I cannot imagine HFC without those 60 infants, toddlers and preschoolers underfoot. They brought so much life and joy to the orphanage, both for me and for the HFC kids. The girls in particular must be devastated. Rumor has it that Dr Bernard will send a few kids to NLL each Saturday to help the nannies there, but one day a week is a far shot from 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.The one saving grace is the oldest NLL kids, those who have been living with the HFC children, have not moved. For the sake of going to the same school, the powers that be have opted to let them stay with their HFC family. So to Beana, James, Adler, Ernso, and Monsanto - I will see you in 10 days. To the rest of the NLL children - I will miss you deeply.